The Bitter Taste of Tea

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The Bitter Taste of Tea

The Bitter Taste of Tea

Do new buzz words like Code of Conduct, Good Governance and Corporate Social Responsibility also include the poor workers producing goods for the rich part of the world?

In the beautiful, lush tea gardens in Kenya, India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, millions of tea-workers struggle everyday – fighting to survive. They are plucking tea for and sold by multinational companies such as Lipton and Finlay’s.

The companies promise the consumers that they will act as responsible members of the global society – protecting the environment and ensuring good working and living conditions. Nothing could be more wrong!

The western consumers have turned to Fair-trade because Fair-trade/Max Havelaar guarantees that the workers in the Fair-trade certified tea estates get a little extra money every time a con-sumer buys their tea.

But how fair is Fair-trade, andwhat are the consumers really paying for when they purchase products with that label?